Random coolness

One of the fun things about traveling, or at least being in a new place, is that you never quite know what's going to happen.

1. Just as I was sitting down at the computer a little while ago to check on my flights for tomorrow, I heard some very loud airplane engines outside the window. I didn't think much about it at first, but it kept happening. I finally went out on the terrace to see what was happening. I was treated to a half-hour airshow with nine planes out over Lake Zug. They were doing loops, skimming the water, flying in formation, diving, climbing, all kinds of cool things. I have no idea why that happened, but it was cool to see.

2. I haven't started my detailed Warsaw report yet, but I'll share one thing. The last night I was there in Warsaw's old town, a bunch of Poles started walking in one direction. I figured there must be something going on, although I had no idea what it could be. No one around me spoke enough English to tell me. So I just went with the crowd. We ended up at a wall overlooking a huge, grassy bowl with a large fountain in the middle. There must have been thousands of people sitting in the bowl. When it got dark enough, we were treated to a laser show with the fountain as a backdrop. There were all sorts of colored lights in the fountain, and they would use the spray from the fountain as a projection screen for the lasers and pictures that they wanted to show. Awesome. They just don't do things like that in Lakeville.

A couple of other random thoughts: First, it's hard to hear about what happened in Oslo. I loved being there last summer. I had walked around in the part of town where the bombing took place. It feels a little more personal when it happens in a place I've actually seen, like when the World Trade Center was hit or the freeway bridge in Minneapolis collapsed. Those places mean something to me; they aren't just pictures on the news from some faraway land.

Shifting gears, Delta Airlines and I are going to be spending lots of quality time together over the next three weeks, starting tomorrow. I'll be in Minneapolis for work, Chicago to visit Jed, Utah to visit family, San Francisco for work, back to Utah, Rochster (NY) for work, and then back to Switzerland. Ugh. Anyone want to bet that my luggage will have trouble keeping up with me?